LOS ANGELES Music legend listened glumly in court Wednesday as a prosecutor portrayed him as a killer whose long history of victimizing women culminated in the death of a beautiful actress at his suburban castle.
Four years after the shooting of propelled Spector's name into headlines again, a standing-room-only crowd filled a courtroom to hear opening statements in the record producer's murder trial.
"The evidence is going to paint a picture of a man who on February 3, 2003, put a loaded pistol in Lana Clarkson's mouth inside her mouth and shot her to death," said Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson.
He showed jurors a picture of Clarkson's body slumped in a chair in the foyer of Spector's home, her face covered with blood.
The prosecutor portrayed Clarkson as the unwitting victim of a man who could be charming, "but when he's confronted with the right situations, turns sinister and deadly."
Jackson told the jury that Spector went out on the town for an evening with a series of women friends, imbibed many drinks at a series of restaurants before arriving at the House of Blues where he met Clarkson, 40, who was working as a hostess in the club's elite Foundation Room.
"That was the first time in her life that Lana Clarkson would meet her killer," he said.
Clarkson was best known for her role in Roger Corman 1980s cult classic "Barbarian Queen." As Jackson spoke, her mother, Donna, and her sister, Fawn, sat in the front row of the courtroom.
Spector, wearing a taupe suit with a long coat and deep purple shirt, sometimes turned to look at the jury. He appeared particularly downcast when a 911 call from his chauffeur was played. It showed that the operator could not figure out who the person was who had allegedly killed someone, mispronouncing his name several times.
The prosecutor highlighted Spector's faded glory by noting that Clarkson did not recognize Spector, tried to keep him out of the Foundation Room and may have at first thought he was a woman.
"Phil Spector recited the mantra of the rich and famous: 'Do you know who I am? I'm Phil Spector,"' Jackson said.
But it was not until a supervisor told Clarkson to "treat him like gold," that she knew he was a celebrity, he said. When the bar closed, Spector had to convince her to come home with him for one drink, he said.
The prosecutor presented video surveillance footage from a House of Blues camera which showed Clarkson leaving with Spector at 2:23 a.
m. on Feb. 3, 2003.
"She was found dead two hours and 55 minutes later," he said.
Jackson made it clear the prosecution will depend heavily on testimony from a series of women who will allege a pattern of behavior by Spector dating back to the 1970s in which he became exceedingly drunk, took a woman to one of his residences, refused to let her leave and then threatened her with a gun when she refused to stay.
Four women who he described included a personal manager for Joan Rivers, a professional photographer of rock stars, a personal assistant who worked for Spector, and a woman he dated.
"Lana Clarkson was the last of a long line of women victimized by Phillip Spector over the years," the prosecutor said.
"Lana Clarkson will have to tell her story through the evidence and from the grave," Jackson said.
Her allies, he suggested, will be the other women who preceded her in Spector's life.
The chauffeur who drove the pair to Spector's mansion will be a key witness. He has told of hearing a gunshot and seeing Spector emerge from the house holding a gun, apparent blood on his fingers, and declaring, "I think I killed somebody." Spector later said he believed the shooting was an "accidental suicide" by Clarkson.
Prosecutors are proceeding on a theory of "implied malice," alleging he did not intend to kill Clarkson but caused her death by reckless behavior and taking an extreme risk.
If convicted of second-degree murder, he could face 15 years to life in prison.
2007 SmartMoney.
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